A Light In The Darkness
by Mrs.McGinty08
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, R knows who Julie is before their encounter in the lab.
1. Hiding

I looked dazedly around the airport, lit only by the few streams of light radiating from the windows. When did my life come to this? Was I really doomed to a life of monotony, stumbling around aimlessly and curbing my now near insatiable appetite?

I shrugged. Aside from the irresistible urge to eat human brains and entrails it didn't feel so different from my human life. As a human I wandered aimlessly, never knowing who I really was and never feeling the need to excel at anything; At least that's what I think my human life was like. And here I am, still wandering, not particularly worried about accomplishing anything and unable to remember my name (I think it starts with R). How pathetic. I went from a life of lethargy and indifference to a life of lethargy and indifference, except this time I was dead, scratch that- undead. If I was dead, I wouldn't have to live- at least I think that's what this is supposed to be, living- out my days in a trance like state. Not that I care.

But no matter how many times I tell myself that I don't care, that being forced to live this way doesn't affect me in the least, something inside of me cared, and it cared a lot. I felt trapped inside myself, unable to escape no matter how badly I wanted to claw my way out. I want to reach out, to connect with people, but the closest thing to communication I'm capable of is groaning, the occasional word, and staring at people creepily in hopes that they will see past my monster like exterior into my complex and sensitive interior.

Sick of being in the airport, I left the building and slowly began the trek into the city. 'I may as well be bored somewhere else' I thought to myself. The minute I entered the town, I heard the sound of humans being attacked, likely by one of us, followed by gunshots. I heard someone coming my way and hid just in time as the humans with guns rounded the corner.

I watched them quietly with baited breath, not wanting to be discovered. I didn't want to get a bullet through the skull today thank you very much!

One of them in particular I couldn't help but notice. A petite girl with long blonde hair and a feisty attitude. I watched them, remaining as quiet and still as possible. Not that staying still was difficult for me, I mean, I'm a zombie for crying out loud! It's in the contract next to eating brains and groaning.

I continued to watch them, and the more I watched, the more I began to like the blonde. And by like, I mean not feel the need to eat her. And in my books, if I don't want to eat someone I must like them. Not entirely sure why I like her though…must be her 'grab life by the horns' attitude. I mean, opposites are said to attract, right?

I was snapped out of my thoughts upon hearing someone approach my general direction and looked up, seeing a guy, gun at the ready. I remained as still and quiet as possible and breathed a sigh- a VERY quiet sigh- of relief when he walked right past my hiding place, not noticing me.

"We'd better get back, it's getting late" the blonde called to the guy.

"Coming Julie" the guy replied, finishing his sweep of the perimeter and returned to the group, walking away with them.

I waited for who knows how long, making sure that they were really gone before coming out of hiding and stumbling around some more. All the while one thing going through my mind:

"Ju-lie"


	2. Conversations

Song used: The Crystal Ship by The Doors

I stumbled around for what felt like hours, which at the speed I move was likely only an hour tops, looking at all the destruction around me, not feeling anything in particular. I mean, don't get me wrong, this whole apocalypse thing sucks just about as bad as being reincarnated as a zombie, but the thing I hated the most about my current situation was my need to feed on humans. Sure they were trying to kill us, but I can't say that I blame them. I mean, we are trying to eat them after all. If I was in their shoes, I'd probably do the same thing. What human in their right mind would want to be eaten by a monster? There, I said it. We're monsters. Not that it's any big secret or anything. I'm a monster. I terrorize and kill people.

Growing sick of being in the city, I decided that it was time to go back to the airport. I began the walk back and once in the building, I ran into my best friend M and decided to sit with him and have a chat.

"Mmm?" He greeted, which when translated means 'What's up?'

"Mmm" I replied shrugging, translation: 'Not much'

"Mm" He grunted, meaning 'Same'

We sat there for a few minutes in complete silence, starting at each other. When this became too awkward, I looked away, getting lost in my thoughts.

"Ju-lie" I grunted quietly

This didn't go unnoticed by M, who looked at me again, this time quizzically, or as close to that expression as zombies are capable of.

"Ju-lie?" He grunted, clearly wanting to know why I had said that name.

I nodded and shrugged. I didn't really want to tell him why that name had slipped out. It would be hours before I'd be articulate enough to answer his question. So I did what any awkward person would do, I stared at him dumbly until he dropped the subject.

After a couple hours of our usual banter, I decided that I needed some alone time. Not that I didn't enjoy talking to M- I did, I enjoyed it a lot- but I found that trying to express myself was extremely draining and from time to time, I just wanted to be left alone. Ironic, isn't it? How the person who feels so alone and would give anything to be able to connect with people, wanted to be alone. Giving M one last grunt, I got up and left the building.

I stumbled out onto the runway, nearing my place of solace- an abandoned plane. I had discovered it not long after I'd been turned and I have inhabited it ever since. Also, the pilot was the first human I ever ate, so it has sentimental value too. It's where I went when I wanted to be alone or when I wanted to feel human again.

I stepped into the plane and made a beeline to my record player, turning it on and placing the needle on the vinyl. The rich sound filled my ears and I sat down in one of the seats and closed my eyes, listening to the lyrics.

Before you slip into unconsciousness  
I'd like to have another kiss  
Another flashing chance at bliss  
Another kiss, another kiss

The days are bright and filled with pain  
Enclose me in your gentle rain  
The time you ran was too insane  
We'll meet again, we'll meet again…

For some unknown reason, my mind wandered back to Julie and for some reason even stranger, I found myself wishing that I would meet her again.


	3. Darkness

The night passed by slowly, the ticking of the clock the only indication that time was passing at all. I just sat there, save the times I'd get up and change the record. I really hated my inability to sleep and I envied the humans. When life got dark, they could close their eyes and go to a world all their own until it was bright again. I could close my eyes, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't go somewhere else like the humans, I couldn't dream. I had to sit there, in near all-consuming darkness, waiting. Waiting for the light to come back, some nights doubting that it ever would.

The only way I can dream is by eating brains, but even then, the dreams aren't mine. I'm not recalling some fond or embarrassing memory from my previous life, rather the moments that enchanted or crippled my meal, the moments that turned them into who they are- beg pardon- _were_. I would give anything to be human again, to be able to express myself freely, live my life and dream. But it was too late for me now. That's why I was reduced to eating brains, to live vicariously through my victims.

I was jolted from my thoughts upon hearing the music stop so I got up and changed the record, yet again and looked out one of the many windows. The sun, with its yellowy-gold hue, was just beginning to come into view over the horizon, spreading light and warmth across the land. On the bright side, this view is something most humans don't get to see, and I get to see it every morning. In some strange way it gives me hope. I smiled to myself, maybe the world wasn't all bad after all.

* * *

The next morning, I headed back into the airport, ready to begin my daily routine for what was probably the millionth time. Step one, walk through the 'security' gate. Step two, wander around aimlessly for a while. And finally, step three, chill with M. But little did I know, today was not going to go according to plan.


	4. Screwed

Introducing my character G!

The minute I stumbled into the airport, I walked into a group that had gathered. This definitely wasn't part of my daily routine.

'That's strange' I thought to myself, stopping mid step and listening in, trying to figure out what had caused the gathering.

I listened as hard as I could, not wanting to miss a single word- er- grunt. It wasn't very often that our routine was broken so I knew that the reason they were gathered must be an important one.

"Hu-mans. Lab" One of them grunted, out of breath.

Oh no. This was worse than I thought. Just yesterday one of us, I think his name was G, had told us that he was going to go to walk (more like limp) to the lab today. If this is true and there are humans on their way to the lab, he'll be out numbered and won't stand a chance.

"We. Help" Another one replied, slowly pointing towards the door.

After many simultaneous grunts of approval, we all made our way towards the door slowly. Some of us were slower than others and I was blessed with the gift of being one of the faster ones. It's times like these that I'm grateful that the lab isn't very far from the airport. I just hope that we make it in time.

* * *

G P.O.V.

'Why did they decide to search the perimeter today?' I thought to myself, afraid of what my fate might be. I was by myself and outnumbered, the odds were not in my favour.

I heard them open the door and hid. I knew it wasn't very brave of me, but my will to survive was currently stronger than my pride and I was certain that I wouldn't make it out if I tried to put up a fight. I peeked around the corner enough that I could barely see, but being barely able to see your enemy was better than not being able to see them at all. There was a handful of them, all armed to the teeth. There was no doubt in my mind that they meant business.

I watched quietly from the shadows, and didn't dare move until I watched them turn to leave the room, at which time I moved my foot ever so slightly—right on top of a big piece of glass which shattered under my foot. That sure caught their attention because they whirled around, guns aimed in my general direction. That's it. I'm screwed.


	5. According To Nora

'Come on, come on!' I thought to myself.

I wished that we could get there faster. My mind was on G, and I felt terrible for him. I

hoped that he was alright. I mean, I don't really know him, yesterday was the first time we'd met, but our lack of history didn't mean that I didn't care about his well-being. Us zombies had to stick together after all. Without each other, we didn't stand a chance.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we reached the door to the lab. We pried it open with great difficulty, entering the lab cautiously. We made our way through one of the many rooms slowly, hoping not to alert the humans of our presence.

* * *

Nora P.O.V.

"Did you hear that?" I asked quietly. I felt uneasy, like there was something on the other side of the door, watching our every move. It was eerie.

I composed myself and turned back to the group, whose expressions were a mix of confusion and well concealed fear, if they had heard something, they weren't going to confess.

"I did. We should bail" I heard Julie say, her voice unable to conceal her fear. I turned back around to look at her.

I knew how she felt. This isn't exactly how I had wanted my life to turn out either. When I thought about my future, I had wanted to be a nurse, to cure people, to save lives, but here I am, killing people. I mean, I knew they were dead, er- undead and no longer human, but I'm a make love not war kind of girl. This whole having to shoot things in the head really gets to me, whether they're human or not. It's taking a life and I hate myself every day for doing it.

I recalled the day I first met Julie. It was recess on the first day of kindergarten. I wasn't used to being away from my mom and so I had been sitting against the outside wall, crying and wanting to go home. She had walked right over to me, told me not to cry, and asked me if I wanted to play on the swings with her. We've been best friends ever since.

"Hey, we can't just bail. We have orders. Any idea how much medicine the city goes through in a month? We need a pharma salvage to survive…" Perry replied, trying to show us the urgency and importance of our mission.

"Yeah, you sound just like my dad" Julie replied, clearly unhappy that he insisted on staying. You know, Julie was kinda right. Over the past year Perry had been turning into her father in many ways. I think he needed a male role model to look up to after his dad died.

"Thank you" Perry replied, happy both for the massive compliment and for the fact that his point had gotten across.

"It wasn't a compliment" Julie replied, her attitude getting the best of her. 'She's right, that's almost an insult' I thought to myself.

Noticing the new found tension that I could cut with a knife, I thought I'd try to make a joke.

"Oh here, guys. Take some Prozac. Maybe that will cheer you up…" I started, trailing off upon hearing a noise from outside the room. "I told you I heard something." I added, raising my gun. I was sure that there was something here now.

"Perry!" I heard Julie exclaim. I whirled my head around to see Perry walking towards the door.

"We have orders, Jules. It was nothing anyway. You're being paranoid, okay?" Perry replied, trying to reassure her, all the while walking slowly towards the door, like a soldier preparing for battle.

His mind was made up, and there was nothing we could do to change it. I looked at Julie who looked extremely conflicted. I can't say that I blame her though, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She could either run away, leaving the man she loved behind to fight, or she could fight alongside him and risk her life. I felt bad for her; she didn't want to fight any more than I did.


End file.
